CJK: 8 Months Old

Today is such a bittersweet day. Not only is Cam officially 8 months old, but it's also my Mom's birthday. Deep in my heart I like to think that my Mom played a role in that Camden was born on the 10th of the month, just like she was. I think it's kinda special they share that! This day is actually harder for me than the past few years and I think it's because now I know what it's like to be a parent and how hard it must've been for her to have to leave me. It makes me cry thinking about it. She's very missed..I know Camden would've loved her. 

Let's get to the happy moments! 

If I could sum up the past month in two words, it would be exciting and busy! The first couple weeks Cam learned to crawl, there was no stopping him. He is across the room in what feels like a split second...just all over the place! We joke about timing it because he is seriously so fast. We learned a lot more about his personality this past month - he is very determined, strong, smart (he picks things up so quickly), and is a great eater! He doesn't hesitate at all when trying new foods, he loves it! He's eating 2-3 "meals" per day now along with his bottles and so far he's ate anything I've put in front of him. Recently I started offering little finger foods to him (cheerios, cut up fruit, puffs, banana oatmeal bites, waffles, etc.) and he perfected the pincer grasp in no time. He doesn't like it if I try to help him-he just wants to do it himself, ha. He's also a HUGE fan of sippy cups/water...he gets really excited when I place a cup in front of him and does not like when I take it away!


In terms of his schedule now, he's down to 2 naps per day (morning and mid afternoon) which makes the day flow so much smoother. He's still in bed by 7:30pm every night and will sleep until whenever we come in to wake him up, normally. It's nice because on the weekends he will let us sleep in a little bit longer (amen!) Everything is going so well right now...he's just the sweetest little boy who makes our life so much better. There are no amount of words that could adequately explain how much we adore him!

MILESTONES/FAVORITE MOMENTS:
-two very big changes this month! He is now off his reflux medicine and the ENT said he believes he's officially grown out of his LM! (loud breathing) We may still hear it from time to time, but it's mainly a thing of the past now. thank the Lord!
-has two teeth! (lower middle ones)
-says mama, dada, and baba
-learned to pull up and stand in his crib! I about had a heart attack when I saw it on the monitor! His crib is now lowered to the very bottom as he was trying to crawl out of it and got very close-he is seriously so strong.
-can go from crawling/laying down to a sitting position on his own!
-hands me a toy when I ask him "can I have that?" he just started doing this and it's so cute.
-had his first "boys" weekend with Daddy
-sitting in the big kid part of the stroller 
-gives kisses when prompted (although yesterday he leaned in to give me one without me asking!)
-he's in mainly all 9 month clothes. he's gotten so big this past month.
-new foods he's tried this month: grapes, brown rice, cheese, quinoa, spinach, pasta, cheerios, blueberries, black beans, yogurt, puffs, peaches, waffles, and so on...this boy takes after his mama and loves to eat. :)

LOVES:
-being surprised! he loves playing peek-a-boo or when we hide around corners in our house and then "find" him
-being on the move in his walker
-any toy that isn't really a baby toy: curtains, vents, sliding glass doors, the TV remote, cords, you know-a lot of dangerous things (of course!)
-getting into the highchair to be fed (he loves drinking water out of a sippy cup and when it's time to eat!)
-crawling (he will do it on his knees a couple times but mainly it's on his belly-he just started doing it more on his knees the past few days. video below!)
-sleeping on his belly with his cute butt up in the air
-his banana toothbrush
-swim lessons every week and is doing great in the water-he did his first underwater dip the other week!
-reading books
-climbing on pillows...he thinks it's hysterical! cracks up when doing it

DISLIKES:

-laying on his back (diaper changes and getting him dressed nowadays takes for-ev-er!)
-bibs! he pulls them off almost immediately

-being rocked to sleep because...#bigboynow :( this one was hard for me to come to terms with! he just doesn't seem interested anymore and wiggles all around until I lay him in his crib. On the bright side of this, he falls asleep all on his own which is so nice. We just lay him in his crib and he's usually asleep within a few minutes or rolls around for a bit then is out! :)
-teething (he makes the saddest little face when they're bothering him-we've had luck with the hyland's teething tablets..they are all natural and really help him!)

favorite videos this month:

dada!

PS: Sorry for being MIA lately-I've had a lot of time home with Camden and we leave for our very first family vacation this weekend!! I'm so excited to take Camden to the beach and for him to see one of our favorite places! Thank you for sticking around even though my posting schedule has been off lately!! xo